Makers of Agent Orange followed formula dictated by U.S. government

James R. Clary was a young Air Force officer and scientist who designed the spray tank for the C-123 cargo planes that dispensed Agent Orange and other herbicides during the Vietnam War. Thirteen years after the conflict ended, with serious concerns being raised in Congress about the effects of defoliants on veterans’ health, Clary dropped a startling bombshell: Military scientists had known that herbicides shipped to Vietnam were contaminated with dioxin and had “the potential for damage” to human health.

U.S. war veteran Larry Vetter conducts physical therapy exercises with 18-year-old La Thanh Nghia, near Da Nang, Vietnam. Nghia and his brother Toan, 21, are third generation Agent Orange victims, the result of the U.S. military's use of Agent Orange and other herbicides during the Vietnam War more than 40 years ago. The brothers were born healthy, but began to suffer from muscular dystrophy and other problems as they grew older. They are now confined at home as their bodies and lives waste away. The United States is paying to clean up dioxin around former American bases, but has yet to offer significant aid for victims. Jan. 5, 2013.

Nguyen Thi Ly, 11, skips rope in her village south of Da Nang, Vietnam. Her grandfather served in the North Vietnamese Army during the Vietnam War, and she is a third generation victim of dioxin exposure, the result of Agent Orange and other herbicides sprayed by the U.S. military during the conflict more than 40 years ago. Like her mother, she suffers from severe facial deformities and chronic bone pain, but is otherwise a normal little girl with hopes and dreams for the future. Skipping rope is her favorite activity. The Vietnam Red Cross estimates that 3 million Vietnamese suffer from illnesses related to dioxin exposure, including at least 150,000 people born with severe birth defects since the end of the war. The U.S. government is paying to clean up dioxin-contaminated soil at the Da Nang airport, which served as a major U.S. base during the conflict. But the U.S. government still denies that dioxin is to blame for widespread health problems in Vietnam and has never provided any money specifically to help the country's Agent Orange victims. May 28, 2012.

A girl colors a page at a center for children affected by dioxin exposure in Da Nang, Vietnam. The Da Nang Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin says that 5,000 people - including more than 1,400 children - around the city suffer from mental and physical disabilities from dioxin exposure, a legacy the U.S. military's use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War more than 40 years ago. The United States is paying to clean up dioxin around former American bases, but has yet to offer significant aid for victims. May 28, 2012.

A girl who cannot hear or speak poses for a photograph at a center for children who have been affected by dioxin exposure in the village of Hoa Nhon, near Da Nang, Vietnam. The Da Nang Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin says that more than 1,400 children around the city suffer from mental and physical disabilities because of dioxin exposure, a legacy of the U.S. military's use of Agent Orange and other herbicides during the Vietnam War more than 40 years ago. About 60 children attend the Hoa Nhon center each day. Many of them have mental disabilities or they cannot hear or speak. Children are taught to read and write, sew clothes, make handicrafts and help their families raise crops and livestock. The Vietnam Red Cross estimates that 3 million Vietnamese suffer from illnesses related to dioxin exposure, including at least 150,000 people born with severe birth defects since the end of the war. The U.S. government is paying to clean up dioxin-contaminated soil at the Da Nang airport, which served as a major U.S. base during the conflict. But the U.S. government still denies that dioxin is to blame for widespread health problems in Vietnam and has never provided any money specifically to help the country's Agent Orange victims. May 29, 2012.

Tran Duc Nghia, 39, watches from a wheelchair as his mother talks about his condition at the family's home in Da Nang, Vietnam. Nghia and his sister are second generation Agent Orange victims, the result of the U.S. militaryÕs use of the herbicide during the Vietnam War more than 40 years ago. The United States is paying to clean up dioxin around former American bases in Vietnam, but has yet to offer significant aid for victims. The family gets no government support, and 75-year-old Hoang Thi Te worries who will take care of her children when she is gone. She wishes the U.S. military would have made a weapon that would have killed her children right away, instead of leaving to suffer decades later. ÒI am very angry. They are heartless people,Ó she says of U.S. policymakers. ÒThey are the cause of this illness for my children. IÕve had to care of them for almost 40 years. I feel like IÕve been in prison.Ó March 18, 2013.

Kristen Vetter, a nurse and daughter of a U.S. war veteran, conducts physical therapy with La Thanh Toan, 21, in Da Nang, Vietnam. Toan and his brother Nghia, 18, are third generation Agent Orange victims, the result of the U.S. military's use of the herbicide more than 40 years ago. The brothers were born healthy, but began to suffer from muscular dystrophy and other problems as they grew older. Now they are confined at home as their bodies and lives waste away. The United States is paying to clean up dioxin at former American bases but has yet to offer significant aid for victims. Jan. 5, 2013.

A boy hugs a girl at a center for children who have been affected by dioxin exposure in the village of Hoa Nhon, near Da Nang, Vietnam. The Da Nang Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin says that more than 1,400 children around the city suffer from mental and physical disabilities because of dioxin exposure, a legacy of the U.S. military's use of Agent Orange and other herbicides during the Vietnam War more than 40 years ago. About 60 children attend the Hoa Nhon center each day. Many have mental disabilities, while others cannot hear and speak. It usually takes a year before a new child will make friends and start interacting with others, says Phan Thanh Tien, the association's president. The Vietnam Red Cross estimates that 3 million Vietnamese suffer from illnesses related to dioxin exposure, including at least 150,000 people born with severe birth defects since the end of the war. The U.S. government is paying to clean up dioxin-contaminated soil at the Da Nang airport, which served as a major U.S. base during the conflict. But the U.S. government still denies that dioxin is to blame for widespread health problems in Vietnam and has never provided any money specifically to help the country's Agent Orange victims. May 29, 2012.

Two children take a bow after performing a short dance at a center for children affected by dioxin exposure in Da Nang, Vietnam. The Da Nang Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin says that more than 1,400 children around the city suffer from mental and physical disabilities because of dioxin exposure, a legacy of the U.S. military's use of Agent Orange and other herbicides during the Vietnam War more than 40 years ago. About 200 children attend three centers operated by the group, which aims to teach the children how to read and write, sew clothes, make handicrafts and eventually integrate into society. But most of them never will because of their disabilities, says Phanh Thanh Tien, the association's president. The Vietnam Red Cross estimates that 3 million Vietnamese suffer from illnesses related to dioxin exposure, including at least 150,000 people born with severe birth defects since the end of the war. The U.S. government is paying to clean up dioxin-contaminated soil at the Da Nang airport, which served as a major U.S. base during the conflict. But the U.S. government still denies that dioxin is to blame for widespread health problems in Vietnam and has never provided any money specifically to help the country's Agent Orange victims. May 28, 2012.

A boy holds a page that he has colored at a center for children who have been affected by dioxin exposure in Da Nang, Vietnam. The Da Nang Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin says that more than 1,400 children around the city suffer mental and physical disabilities because of dioxin, a legacy of the U.S. military's use of Agent Orange and other herbicides during the Vietnam War more than 40 years ago. About 200 children attend three centers operated by the group. Because of their disabilities, it usually takes two to three years for the children to interact with others and to learn simple tasks, says Phan Than Tien, the association's president. The Vietnam Red Cross estimates that 3 million Vietnamese suffer from illnesses related to dioxin exposure, including at least 150,000 people born with severe birth defects since the end of the war. The U.S. government is paying to clean up dioxin-contaminated soil at the Da Nang airport, which served as a major U.S. base during the conflict. But the U.S. government still denies that dioxin is to blame for widespread health problems in Vietnam and has never provided any money specifically to help the country's Agent Orange victims. May 28, 2012.

Nguyen Thi Dung, 45, grins for a photograph near her drink stand in Da Nang, Vietnam. Dung's father was a soldier for the South Vietnamese army during the Vietnam War and died at 62 from complications related to Agent Orange exposure. She and an older brother were born with hip dysplasia that doctors say is linked to their father's exposure, and she suffers from neurological damage that causes one side of her mouth to droop and for her eyes and mouth to twitch uncontrollably. "My son's condition is even worse," she says. "There are three generations in my family like this, and the doctors say that for all three generations, our condition is because of Agent Orange." The family survives partially on about $25 that each gets monthly from the Da Nang Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin, an aid group. The Vietnam Red Cross estimates that 3 million Vietnamese suffer from illnesses related to dioxin exposure, including at least 150,000 people born with severe birth defects since the end of the war. The U.S. government is paying to clean up dioxin-contaminated soil at the Da Nang airport, which served as a major U.S. base during the conflict. But the U.S. government still denies that dioxin is to blame for widespread health problems in Vietnam and has never provided any money specifically to help the country's Agent Orange victims. May 30, 2012.

Mai Thi Mang, 21, a second generation victim of Agent Orange, sits with her mother and brother in their house south of Da Nang, Vietnam. Mang's father served as a bomb disposal soldier from 1975 to 1990 and worked in many areas that had been sprayed with herbicides during the war. Mang is mentally disabled because of her father's exposure, and her 19-year-old brother suffers from disorders that have left him unable to talk or even sit up on his own. The Vietnam Red Cross estimates that 3 million Vietnamese suffer from illnesses related to dioxin exposure, including at least 150,000 people born with severe birth defects since the end of the war. The U.S. government is paying to clean up dioxin-contaminated soil at the Da Nang airport, which served as a major U.S. base during the conflict. But the U.S. government still denies that dioxin is to blame for widespread health problems in Vietnam and has never provided any money specifically to help the country's Agent Orange victims. May 30, 2012.

Dang Chi Tam, 42, a second generation victim of Agent Orange, sits with her brother Dang Chi Trung, 43, in their home in Da Nang, Vietnam. Their parents, now deceased, were long-time members of the Communist Party, and served in the wars against the French and Americans. Trung is the sole caregiver for his sister, who is mentally disabled and unable to speak or care for herself. "Even personal hygiene she doesn't know how to do," he says. "Even to go to the toilet, she doesn't know how to do." They survive on about $60 a month that is provided by the Vietnamese government. "It is very difficult for us to live," he says. "Because I have to care for her, I cannot go out for very long. It is very difficult for me to get a job." The Vietnam Red Cross estimates that 3 million Vietnamese suffer from illnesses related to dioxin exposure, including at least 150,000 people born with severe birth defects since the end of the war. The U.S. government is paying to clean up dioxin-contaminated soil at the Da Nang airport, which served as a major U.S. base during the conflict. But the U.S. government still denies that dioxin is to blame for widespread health problems in Vietnam and has never provided any money specifically to help the country's Agent Orange victims. May 29, 2012.

A girl born without legs and with a malformed right arm lives on the children's ward known as the Peace Village at Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. According to doctors, about 500 of the more than 60,000 children born at the hospital each year have birth defects and deformities, many of which are believed to have been caused by dioxin left over from the U.S. military's use of Agent Orange herbicide during the Vietnam War more than 40 years ago. The United States is paying to clean up dioxin around former American bases, but has yet to offer significant aid for victims. May 1, 2013.

A boy with eczema so severe that he looks like a burn victim is pictured in the children's ward known as the Peace Village at Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. About 500 of the 60,000 children born each year at the maternity hospital, Vietnam's largest, are born with deformities because of Agent Orange, according to doctors. This boy is in so much pain because of his condition that he frequently bangs his head against the walls of the hospital and must wear a padded helmet so that he does not hurt himself. May 1, 2013.

Tran Duc Nghia 39, watches as his mother talks about his condition at their home in Da Nang, Vietnam. 75-year-old Hoang Thi Te worries who will take care of her children when she is gone. She wishes the U.S. military would have made a weapon that would have killed her children right away, instead of leaving to suffer decades later.
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A child born without eyes, a third-generation victim of the U.S. military's use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War more than 40 years ago
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Le Thi Thu, 42, and her daughter, Nguyen Thi Ly, 11, live in a village south of Da Nang, Vietnam. They are second and third generation victims of dioxin exposure, the result of the U.S. military's use of Agent Orange and other herbicides during the Vietnam War more than 40 years ago.
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James R. Clary was a young Air Force officer and scientist who designed the spray tank for the C-123 cargo planes that dispensed Agent Orange and other herbicides during the Vietnam War.

Thirteen years after the conflict ended, with serious concerns being raised in Congress about the effects of defoliants on veterans’ health, Clary dropped a startling bombshell: Military scientists had known that herbicides shipped to Vietnam were contaminated with dioxin and had “the potential for damage” to human health.

“However, because the material was to be used on the ‘enemy,’ none of us were overly concerned,” Clary wrote to then-Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D. “We never considered a scenario in which our own personnel would become contaminated with the herbicide.”

Agent Orange was produced primarily by the Monsanto Corp. and Dow Chemical. Both companies say the defoliant was made according to strict military specifications. “The government specified the chemical composition of Agent Orange and when, where and how the material was to be used in the field, including application rates,” Monsanto says.

But a 1990 report compiled by Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr. for the Department of Veterans Affairs that recommended compensation for ailing veterans who’d been exposed to Agent Orange also detailed evidence that Dow Chemical knew as early as 1964 that dioxin was a “byproduct of the manufacturing process” and that the dangers of exposure were clear.

That report cited an internal company memo warning that exposure could result in “general organ toxicity,” in addition to “psychopathological” and “other systemic” problems.

In 1965, according to another memo that’s became public in federal court documents, Dow warned Monsanto and other Agent Orange makers that industry “had to resolve the (dioxin) problem before the government found out.”

Monsanto and other companies ignored this warning and continued to make Agent Orange with high levels of dioxin. Dow changed its manufacturing process so that its product contained much lower levels of the contaminant.

Dow officials later admitted in federal court and in congressional testimony in the 1980s that they didn’t inform the U.S. government about dioxin contamination in Agent Orange until 1969 at the earliest.

Despite these revelations, the federal courts have consistently shielded Dow, Monsanto and other manufacturers from liability because they produced Agent Orange under government contract.

Neither Dow Chemical nor Monsanto responded to email and telephone requests for comment for this article. Both companies have publicly absolved themselves of any responsibility in the matter.

“All historic wartime issues, including the use of Agent Orange, are appropriately a matter of resolution by and among the governments of the United States, Vietnam and the allied forces,” Dow Chemical says on its website.

Today, Clary stands by the original concept of Operation Ranch Hand, as the U.S. Air Force defoliation program was known, as a “sound and benign program,” but he regrets that herbicides with high levels of dioxin were used in the war.

“I would like to point out that the science 50 years ago did not indicate the kind of long-term effects of dioxin that we’re seeing today,” he said in an email. “I would like to believe that if we had the science then that we have today that the government would not have used (Agent Orange) with high dioxin content.”

Clary said he thought the United States had “a responsibility to help the Vietnamese people” deal with the legacy of Agent Orange.

“We have a history of rebuilding and assisting our former enemies after the wars are over,” he said, citing the examples of Germany and Japan after World War II. “The precedent is there; only the moral will is needed.”